


Blood isn't always thicker

by hellbells



Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Based off Prodigal Son (2019), Serial Killer Senior, Tony is a Paddington
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:13:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25921876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellbells/pseuds/hellbells
Summary: Tony has masks for a reason, but they aren't superficial like Kate believes.His childhood was far bloodier than anyone believed but it is about to come knocking on his door.He is going to have to unpick the work ofThe Conmanonce more, and it might cost him his sanity.
Comments: 65
Kudos: 462





	Blood isn't always thicker

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this was meant to be part of the TLBB Fusion collection but was getting long and I had barely written a pairing. So instead of forcing one - I am posting this and when I figure out the pairing ... It might weave back into the collections if I can figure out who it will be for the main pairing. 
> 
> EDIT: Two spin offs are planned based off this work one will be a true fusion fic with Ian Edgerton as the pairing. The other one will be a crossover with Prodigal Son and be a Gibbs pairing.

Tony saw a shadow looming over him. He didn’t let on how close the friendship was between the Feeb and himself. It wasn’t that he was ashamed but it was more of a case of not wanting to get into his very tangled family history. Tony plastered on his best smile, “Hey, what can I do for the FBI today?”

Fornell looked worried but knew he needed the insight. He just wished that he didn’t have to drag Tony into it as the man had been through enough in his life. “I need your help on a scene.”

Gibbs looked up, “The last thing I checked he signed on for NCIS, not FBI.”  
  
Fornell looked aggrieved. “Whatever, Jethro, it is important.”  
  
Gibbs sighed, knowing there was something more here going on, but he was guessing it wasn’t pretty. Tobias looked like he wanted a drink and it wasn’t midday. 

“Go play with the Feebs, but you better have him home before bedtime.”  
  
Tony shook his head, seeing the outright shock of Tim and Kate. It would be funny if the case weren’t so serious, but Fornell was still coy about the situation. 

“Why me?”  
  
Fornell handed him the file. “Murder was in a hotel. Rich heiress type, you probably run in the same circles.”  
  
Tony looked at the name, “No, she was new Hampton money.”  
  
Fornell snorted. “Snob.”  
  
Tony rolled his eyes, “Perils of being raised by the Paddingtons.”  
  
“Getting out of the country was probably the best thing you could have done under the circumstances.”

Tony chuckled darkly, “Yeah, it was one way to escape the infamy.”

~*~

The scene was textbook, and the minute he saw the scene, he checked his assumptions. “So rich heiress mysteriously made her way to a new hotel. There will be no obvious drugs in her system just some overly expensive champagne in her stomach and some other rich food.”  
  
The other agent who had been making sketches looked up frowning. “Are you an ME?”  
  
Tony shook his head. “Liasion doing a favour for an old friend.” He looked darkly at Fornell because he now knew exactly why he had been called to the scene. 

Fornell shrugged helplessly. “I needed to know.”  
  
“You caught the original.” 

The agent frowned. “Original what? Why am I out of the loop here?”  
  
Tony sighed and recounted the MO of one of DC’s more infamous serial killers. “You will find there is a tiny prick above the heart. It will have delivered a fatal dose of adrenaline. She will have missing only one rare piece of jewellery missing, but her cards and money will still be there.”  
  
“We would have caught a needle mark.”  
  
Tony shook his head. “Normally, yes Agent Sacks but this is a rare breed. Your man has money and a lot of it.”

“Like you.”  
  
Tony rolled his eyes at the barely disguised suspicion in the man’s voice. He hated agents who lacked subtly - they should be kept as analysts but lacked the nuance for fieldwork. “Yes, I do have money, thanks to a substantial trust fund from the Paddington’s of Oxford. Oh, and before you go that far I will save you time. I have an alibi as I was in the bullpen of NCIS last night with my mentor, Agent Jethro Gibbs.”

Sacks stuttered for a few minutes. “I wasn’t suggesting you were the murderer Agent Paddington, but you know a lot about the MO.”  
  
Tony snorted darkly. “That is because you have a knock off copycat of _The Conman.”_

Fornell sighed. “I was hoping I was wrong.”  
  
“If it is a copycat we will need to go and talk to him.” Sacks pointed out. 

Tony snorted, “He won’t speak to Fornell, he was the one who arrested him. He probably won’t talk to you as you are a Feeb. It is nothing personal it was just you were the agency who took him down.”  
  
“Are you saying he will talk to you?” Sacks asked sarcastically. 

Tony looked forlorn. “I would love more than anything in the world to be able to say no, but I am the one person he will see.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“A father likes to catch up with his son from time to time.”  
  
Sacks blanched. “You’re his son.”  
  
Tony shook his head. “Nope, not officially. My father is listed as Lord Clive Paddington, Count of Oxford. He adopted me after the trial as I had no desire to have any link to the man who murdered my mother.”  
  
Fornell looked pained, “I will get Gibbs, and we will head over.”  
  


~*~  
  
Gibbs saw DiNozzo and wanted to hit his old friend. “What the hell did you do to him?” 

Fornell looked shifty, “I had to force him to take a trip down memory lane.”

Gibbs growled, “This is why he joined NCIS.”  
  
Fornell growled right back looking like he was ready to square off with his old friend. “We’re heading to Belmont psychiatric, and if you’re not busy. We thought you might like to take a road trip.”

“You’re going nowhere without me, Tobias.” Gibbs swigged the last of his coffee as if it could fortify him. He turned to his junior agents. “You will be on cold cases until we get back.”  
  
Tim was eager to find out more. “We could help.”  
  
Gibbs shook his head. “Not your party and this man is beyond your years, McGee.”  
  
Kate frowned because it seemed like whatever was going on, was obviously linked to Tony’s past. She didn’t think his silver-spoon background would link to some horrific horror that should have them quivering in their boots. “We hear you, boss.”  
  
Tim was about to say something, and she smacked his shoulder. “We have a case we started to sound out last week.”  
  
Gibbs nodded. “Good.”

~*~  
  
“Don’t step past the red line!” The guard warned.   
  
Tony rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. He wasn’t an eight-year-old kid, who grabbed a Feeb off the street too scared to go to sleep. He was a grown-ass man with a career, weapons training and self-defence. He could do this, especially if the man had convinced someone to emulate him. 

His biological father stood before him, so pleased to see him. “Junior!”  
  
Tony shuddered inwardly at the nickname but knew better than to say anything that could jeopardise the information he needed. “Hey, Pops.”  
  
“What brings you here?” DiNozzo Senior asked as if this was a park on a warm day, not a psychiatric ward of a hospital.  
  
“You have a copycat, killing in your name.”  
  
“My that is brilliant.”  
  
Tony shook his head. “Is it though?”

“I would imitation is the highest form of flattery.”  
  
Tony snorted derisively. “Yes, but you should have picked your man better. The needle was found on the first go, and he didn’t take the right piece of jewellery. He picked the biggest piece but missed the Faberge ring on her finger.”

Now that got a reaction. “You’re wrong.”  
  
“No, I am not Aunt Clare has two Faberge on the mantle including one of the two flowers out of the Queen’s possession. I know Russian art when I see it.”  
  
“You should never have been raised by your Uncle.” Senior remarked as if he had a choice in the matter.  
  
Tony shrugged, “I had no choice since you effectively made me an orphan.”

“I didn’t mean to get caught.”  
  
Tony shrugged, “You got careless old man just like you did picking your apprentice.”  
  
Anthony DiNozzo shrugged, “He is money elite, and he didn’t marry into the family, so he won’t stand out as I did.”  
  
“You think that was your mistake?”  
  
Anthony shook his head. “No, it was the jewellery.”  
  
Tony shook his head in disbelief, but he had to remind himself that he was talking to a crazy person. “No, it wasn’t the jewellery. You were married into the Paddington family for Christ’s sake." He took a deep breath, "You could have whatever you wanted.”  
  
“No, I couldn’t. Your Uncle made sure of that with his rules.”  
  
Tony was just sad. “Your appetite for greed and the finer things in life always outdid your wallet size, didn’t it?”  
  
“You say that never having known that issue.”  
  
Tony took a deep breath. “I am living the life you caused, _Dad_.”

“So you said my copycat was sloppy?” He was trying not to seem too keen. “How?”  
  
Tony smirked, “Struck on his first date.”  
  
“So, he was keen.” DiNozzo countered like it wasn’t a big deal. 

“Yeah but to attack at the same hotel as the date, now that was stupid.”  
  
DiNozzo Snr was horrified by the idea. “No he wouldn’t, that would be sloppy.”

Tony grinned. “Yeah, but the hotel was the finest one in DC. He wouldn’t have let himself be seen in something less than the best.”

“You’re too clever, my boy.”  
  
Tony nodded his head in agreement. He had what he needed and to be honest. He had no intention of sticking around to let his father stick his tendrils into him once more. He had years of therapy to get himself in a good place from his childhood, but he doubted it would last if DiNozzo Snr kept up that manic grin. 

~*~  
  
Tony walked straight out of the room with his head held high. “Check the camera logs on that camera for the last month when you find the person who can live in the Hamptons. You will have your man. He will probably have recently lost money, and there is nothing worse for one of them, and they would fight to get back any level of control on their life that they could.”

Fornell looked sorry for the whole thing. “You going to be okay, kid.”  
  
Tony looked at Gibbs with a small grin, “Yeah, I can tell the bossman is going to drag me home.”

“Damn straight. You need bourbon, cowboy steaks and I can sand the boat while you rant.”  
  
Fornell didn’t know if that was a good evening or not, but he had known Tony for a long time. He could tell for the SFA it would help him unwind, so would let them get on with their plans. He didn’t much like the looks between the pair, but that wasn’t his business. He had nothing to worry about as Tony wasn’t a redhead. The information Tony had managed to get out of the serial killer should narrow it down to one man. 

_Too bad he was wrong about there being one man who fits the profile, and it wasn’t the only thing he was wrong about - red wasn’t always the colour._


End file.
